Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

muriel_volestrangler

(105,550 posts)
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 06:13 AM Dec 8

Trump's Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal

No surprise there - "every accusation is a confession" has never been so true as for Trump:

In 1993, Trump signed a mortgage for a “Bermuda style” home in Palm Beach, Florida, pledging that it would be his principal residence. Just seven weeks later, he got another mortgage for a seven-bedroom, marble-floored neighboring property, attesting that it too would be his principal residence.

In reality, Trump, then a New Yorker, does not appear to have ever lived in either home, let alone used them as a principal residence. Instead, the two houses, which are next to his historic Mar-a-Lago estate, were used as investment properties and rented out, according to contemporaneous news accounts and an interview with his longtime real estate agent — exactly the sort of scenario his administration has pointed to as evidence of fraud.

At the time of the purchases, Trump’s local real estate agent told the Miami Herald that the businessman had “hired an expensive New York design firm” to “dress them up to the nines and lease them out annually.” In an interview, Shirley Wyner, the late real estate agent’s wife and business partner who was herself later the rental agent for the two properties, told ProPublica: “They were rentals from the beginning.” Wyner, who has worked with the Trump family for years, added: “President Trump never lived there.”

Mortgage law experts who reviewed the records for ProPublica were struck by the irony of Trump’s dual mortgages. They said claiming primary residences on different mortgages at the same time, as Trump did, is often legal and rarely prosecuted. But Trump’s two loans, they said, exceed the low bar the Trump administration itself has set for mortgage fraud.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-mortgage-fraud-florida-principal-residences
18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

Baitball Blogger

(51,692 posts)
4. We all knew it would roll this way.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 08:00 AM
Dec 8

Whatever he's done, he accuses others of doing. Why we can't turn it around and show he's trying to distract from his own sins is beyond me.

Martin Eden

(15,358 posts)
8. This is far more flagrant than what Letitia James is accused of.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 08:52 AM
Dec 8

Trump won't be held accountable for mortgage fraud, but he might be found guilty of sheer hypocrisy in the court of public opinion -- if the mainstream media does its job.

3Hotdogs

(15,030 posts)
10. Another fraud on his part - different values for his property. One for mortgage application and another
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 09:14 AM
Dec 8

value for insurance purposes.

Ol Janx Spirit

(686 posts)
11. Something, something, [accordion hands], Bill Clinton and slEEpy JOE! It's their fault!
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 09:45 AM
Dec 8

Because conservatives only require "personal responsibility" from others--never taking any of their own when caught.

At this point the Wizard of Snooze has legitimately set himself up to say. "I didn't know anything about it," in almost any instance--because his ability to know almost anything is highly questionable.

And all-too-many voters could not care less. All they want is their gas and groceries to be cheap.

It is far too easy to convince most Americans that any issue is one that both sides do, have done, or have caused.

Cynicism-induced stupidity and willful ignorance will eventually kill us all....

mwb970

(12,069 posts)
13. I have a theory about trump's incessant projection.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 10:58 AM
Dec 8

He doesn't have enough imagination to make up a plausible lie against one of his many enemies out of whole cloth, so he picks some terrible or illegal thing that he himself has done and accuses his enemy of it. It seems like a stupid thing to do, but we are talking about one of the stupidest people in America and we must adjust our theories accordingly.

Qutzupalotl

(15,659 posts)
14. That has the effect of softening public outrage
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 12:45 PM
Dec 8

because people barely paying attention assume “everyone is doing it.” A person capable of shame over hypocrisy would never do that, but that is the reason for being so over the top.

It's also why he keeps throwing around accusations of “election interference” — to make his supporters feel that cheating is justified, and do his unspoken bidding.

popsdenver

(1,532 posts)
16. LOL
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 02:48 PM
Dec 8

he also bought a huge building of Condominiums down in Florida...........He leased them to Uber Rich Russian Oligarchs for obscene amounts of money, and they never occupied them, they were left empty..........talk about money laundering/grifting.......

Martin68

(27,033 posts)
18. Trump's Standard Operating Procedure (or MO) is to prosecute his enemies for crimes of which he is guilty.
Mon Dec 8, 2025, 05:43 PM
Dec 8
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Trump's Own Mortgages Mat...